Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Discussion Board

I hope you don't worry about it! Most likely your doctor won't know about how to resolve augmentation, and if he/she does, he/she certainly won't believe that it can cause increased RLS/WED.

I found Clinical Management of RLS on Google Books and searched on augmentation: http://books.google.com/books?id=NixRta ... on&f=false

You can potentially print out the pages with the info on it that you need and take it to the doc if you do not have the book.

Let us know what happens at your appt! Fingers crossed that the augmentation will go away once you discontinue the Ropinerole.

sure will keep you posted, good people like you are my lifeline, thank you all.

Hmm, I missed this thread.

Yes Tramadol gave me seizures, although it was worth pointing out I routinely took an excess of twice the maximum dose.

Are you on any anti-depressants? That was what I think really sent me over the edge. Tramadol can interact with certain AD's because they can lower the seizure threshold for a given person and some other bad stuff.

But if you were having weird spasms, etc then it was good that you stopped the Tramadol. From now on I would tell any medical profession who asks you about allergies that you are allergic to Tramadol and leave it at that.

Definitely make sure you get off the Requip and get onto something like Oxycodone for the next couple of weeks.. Click the link to the Mayo Clinic Algorithm for RLS in my signature.

If your doctor won't pay attention to Mayo, out of all the sources you provide, then I would find another doctor. I would never deal with a doctor who didn't know of and respect Mayo's medical and research contributions, especially in dealing with tough cases like RLS.

More importantly, it outlines how to identify and how to treat augmentation, and lists many valid treatment options including opiates. The link is at the bottom of this post, in my signature. Print it out.

hi my friends. Well, my Doc suggested I try the next med on the list from my neuro, Pregabalin, or Lyrica, as it says on the box. I have to start at 75mg at night with my 2mg Ropinirole, and another 75mg in the morning (no Ropinirole). I have to do this for approx 5 - 7 days then if ok stay at that level. Or I can gradually increase at night up to 600mg if needed. Hope it's not needed . Has anyone else tried this combination, and did it work for them? Were there any side effects and if so how bad were they? I see one of the possible side effects listed is- yet again- insomnia. All I need ....but I'm desperate to try anything so here goes....

I just want to get off the Ropinirole.

Helen: I find that even when a side effect of drowsiness is listed, the same drug can list a side effect of insomnia. Because we are all different in how we react.

So you are now taking 2mg ropinerole at night and 75mg lyrica twice daily. I shall be really interested to see how it goes when you come to reduce your ropinerole as it is one of the drugs that I also use.

you can be sure I'll report every step, PolarBear!

Helen, your doctor did not inform himself about augmentation, and I would ask him, does he REALLY think you should continue ropinirole even though you're augmenting?

You can't expect that he knows what augmentation is. My own doctor, way back, looked at me in an amused way and explained that he'd been giving this med to Parkinsons patients for years and they never got worse from it. I had to explain to him that this was something that only happened in RLS, it wasn't an issue in Parkinson's. Then he read the book, then he got it. It't not always an easy process, and the mistake we make as patients is to assume our doctors know what we know. We have to see if they do or not, we can't assume it.

I took Lyrica in combination with hydromorph contin (seeking relief without raising the opioid dose). It made me unbearably sleepy at 75 mg and did nothing for the RLS. I gave it six days of my life, then I said that was enough and stopped taking it.

I have given my doctor a copy of the Mayo Algorithm, she said she would read it, I hope she meant it. I did wonder about the Ropinirole, I told her my objective was to get off it and on to something else.She made the right noises...
But I am seeing my Neurologist on the 6th and I will go into more detail with him. And I am concerned that the Pregabalin isn't an Opiod, therefore it's not going to help me much when I do come off the Ropinirole. The Tramadol is an Opiod and it did make a difference until I had the reaction to it. If I could get something similar to that I'd be a little more confident about the withdrawal.

I am now on night 6 of using Pregabalin and Ropinirole. I have had 6 much better nights sleep, and funnily enough the days are slightly better too. I have a feeling the Pregabalin is covering up some of the augmentation, which is great right now, but I'm not daft enough to think the augmentaion has stopped, I know it's still there. But I feel so much better knowing I'm going to sleep better. I am only on 75mg of Pregabalin a night plus my usual 2mg Ropinirole. I am supposed to also take 75mg Pregablain in the morning too, but the one time I did, it was like I was on another planet! I would not have dared to drive, and it was like I was listening but not hearing, looking but not seeing. It was horrible, I felt like a drug addict. So I stopped the morning dose, andstuck to taking it at night. But I saw my Neuro today, and he suggested that I do take it in the morning, but try it on days where I am not working or driving first, as it is a build up thing, and it's the kind of drug that my body has to get used to gradually, and after the initial effects it will be OK. But to tell the truth, I work and drive at odd times of the week, and I won't have 2 or 3 days in a row where I can do this and get my body used to it. I am thinking of taking the morning dose every other day, or as far as I can every day I don't go to work, but I don't know if this will be in a regular enough pattern for the Pregabalin to have the right build up.
And I don't know when the right time will be now for me to reduce the Ropinirole. Why is nothing ever easy. At least I can look forward to a decent night's sleep tonight (I hope).

Helen, wonderful that you are sleeping. Getting the sleep makes such a difference and it makes such a difference to your outlook on life when you can go to bed at night being pretty confident that you will sleep well. I am following your journey with interest and look forward to hearing how you progress.

It surely isn't easy oftentimes....

Glad you are sleeping better.

Still sleeping better, though this morning I have been awake from 4.10 am, not because of the RLS. I have Ropinirole induced Insomnia, and try as I might, I couldn't get back to sleep!But at least while I was lying there dog-tired I could at least keep my legs still! Today hasn't been as good a day, I have had augmentation the same as it was. Tonight I'm going to take an extra Pregabalin and finally take the step of reducing the Ropinirole by another 0.5 mg. I am dreading it, but I cannot take much more of the augmentation and the Insomnia. I'm not at work tomorrow, and I would love to go for a morning jog, but somehow I don't think I'll have the energy. Least to say, I'm now not looking forward to the night as much as I was, I really don't know what to expect...

If you are on 2mg ropinerole, then to reduce by .5mg is to reduce by a quarter.
Just my own thoughts on this, but I wonder if it might be less of a shock to the system if you reduced by .25mg for a few nights before going to the .5mg.

Perhaps others who have done the reducing journey will feel that to reduce by .5mg is quite ok.